THE DOORBELL RANG ONE AFTERNOON last December in Adam Graves'sapartment near Rye, N.Y. Graves opened the door to find Tony Amonte,a teammate who would later be traded to the Chicago Blackhawks,standing in the hall. Amonte said his phone didn't work.''What happened?'' Graves asked.''Oh, they shut it off,'' Amonte said. ''I meant to pay the bills,but I never got around to it. So can I use your phone?''''No problem,'' Graves said.No problem. Let's see. Shoved into a corner of Graves's livingroom was an extra couch that would be moved by Graves to defensemanJeff Beukeboom's apartment later in the day. Beukeboom needed acouch. Graves had a couch. What the heck. Seated on a bar stool wasGraves's fiancee, Violet Ravija. She had locked herself out of hercar, and he had driven to a local fitness club with the keys. Seatedin another chair was a reporter, waiting for lunch. Graves was makinggrilled-cheese sandwiches. What the heck. After lunch he would movethe couch, and after he moved the couch, he would go into Brooklyn'sBedford- Stuyvesant to work with some kids, and after he worked withthe kids. . . .Was there anything the 26-year-old Graves couldn't or wouldn't do?In the New York Rangers' long climb to the Cup, he was theirall-purpose tool, fixer of problems on and off the ice, their bestpublic-relations asset, their most popular player and -- oh, yes --their leading goal scorer, breaking Vic Hadfield's 22-year-old teamrecord of 50 goals in a season. Graves finished with 52.''I think he scored so much because we needed goals from him,''Ranger general manager Neil Smith said. ''If we needed some otherpart of the game, he'd be giving more of some other part. Whateveryou need, he tries to give you.''Graves is a representative of old-line Canadian hockey virtues,finishing every check, eager to be involved in whatever disturbancesoccur on the ice, scoring his goals in one-foot, two-foot, three-footbursts from the midst of goalmouth scrambles. The Rangers rewardedGraves with a new contract in the middle of the season, for six yearsand $14 million.Graves made the All-Star Game for the first time. The story of hisBoy Scout childhood -- growing up in the Toronto suburb of NorthYork, Ont., in a family that accepted more than 40 foster children --is one of the NHL's happiest tales. The finish, the Cup, was perfectfor the guy who scored the goals, fought the fights, tied the dailyloose strings that developed during a season. What else could he havedone? Sharpen the skates? Wash the uniforms? Drive the Zamboni?If you asked Graves, he would have a simple answer: No problem. --L.M.